Yeah, most people that don't understand science are very irrational.

I honor the gift we get from the English of being flexible. It may appear irrational compared to the oh so linear and metric French. The English did not have a written Constitution because they did not need one. Rationality can be a dead end.

Sleep time

Occasionally one meets a teacher that is religious and trained in the scientific method and/or art of war. I was blessed with several of these. I have also been battered by nuns who were quite irrational.

re: #271 rabidfox

OY: I found this link over at Powerline and thought I'd pass it on. Apparently Pacifica Radio had Mike Gavel on (former Ak dem senator) thinking they were going to get the dirt on Palin. Didn't quite work out that way. It's a hoot!

[Link: johnrlott.blogspot.com...]

This is it

I think irrationalism might just be the enemy of all of humanity.

re: #6 lummox

Just listened to it. Love how the radio hosts try to hammer on all the dem slander points and he dismisses most of them.

Interesting article and comment thread on the turmoil on Wall St.

OOPS! THIS is it

So, after continuous attacks on a Jewish neighborhood, and Arab attacks and viciously stabs a 9 year old boy. Fed up, and furious, the Jews respond and exact vengeance against the Arab village from which the attacks and the Terrorist came.

This is how the MSM covers it:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday vowed to stop West Bank "pogroms" a day after Jewish settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village, shooting and wounding four people.

NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - A Palestinian was shot dead by an Israeli army patrol and four others were wounded in clashes with Jewish settlers Saturday after an intruder stabbed a child in a West Bank settlement.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager on Saturday, hours after Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinian villagers in the occupied West Bank and an Israeli boy received stab wounds.

NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - At least four Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli troops and Jewish settlers in the West Bank on Saturday after an intruder stabbed a child in a nearby settlement, officials said.

[W]e must be wary of granting too much power to natural selection by viewing all basic capacities of our brain as direct adaptations. I do not doubt that natural selection acted in building our oversized brains -- and I am equally confident that our brains became large as an adaptation for definite roles (probably a complex set of interacting functions). But these assumptions do not lead to the notion, often uncritically embraced by strict Darwinians, that all major capacities of the brain must arise as direct products of natural selection.

--Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

(In other words, there are things about us that Darwin's thought cannot explain.)

re: #8 BlueCanuck

Just listened to it. Love how the radio hosts try to hammer on all the dem slander points and he dismisses most of them.

Yeah, and the best point of all is that Senator Gravel isn't a Republican and says he's not voting for them. That give him a lot more credibility than one of the typical talking heads.

He's basically telling the radio hosts that they need some adult supervision.
.

re: #11 WrathofG-d

But of course. The evil jewish settlers must let the rightful dwellers of palestine wipe them out and not raise a single finger in retaliation. After all their unlawful presence is goading the rightful palestinians into attacking them.

/ouch that hurt to right. Anybody got some rum?

re: #14 BlueCanuck

When the MSM starts to call the Arab/Muslims living within pre-1967 Israel "settlers" and their neighborhoods "Arab settlements" I might start taking them seriously.

They completely ignore the real story is that without any provocation the Arabs entered the peaceful Jewish neighborhood and attempted to kill a 9-year old boy, by stabbing him to death.

re: #15 WrathofG-d

Yeah, I know. Muslims for some reason seem to get a bye on everything they do lately. Any one retaliating seems to be painted as racist war mongers.

re: #14 BlueCanuck

/ouch that hurt to right. Anybody got some rum?

How 'bout some Carlo Rossi Paisano?

re: #7 Sharmuta

I think irrationalism might just be the enemy of all of humanity.

I completely agree.

re: #18 EIDE_Interface

Define "rational".

I get the sense that "rational" is used around here as a code-word for "what I believe".

re: #17 victor_yugo

Sounds expensive, any good?

/expensive does not always mean tasty.

re: #12 victor_yugo

--Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

(In other words, there are things about us that Darwin's thought cannot explain.)

Darwin's theory is more of an all-encompassing concept of adapations coming from competition between species and environmental conditions. I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with it.

re: #19 WrathofG-d

Define "rational".

I get the sense that "rational" is used around here as a code-word for "what I believe".

Read "The Dialogues of Socrates" for my take on rationality.

Sarah Palin reminds me a lot of Golda Meir...

re: #22 EIDE_Interface

Socrates was a boy-lover. I'd be cautious as using him as your definition of "rational"

:)

One night, as he finished his last beer, Joe's doorbell rang. He answered the door and found a six-foot cockroach standing there. The bug grabbed him by the collar and threw him across the room, then left. The next night, the doorbell rang, and he found the same six-foot cockroach standing there. The big bug punched him in the stomach, then left. The same thing happened the next night. This time, he was kneed in the groin and hit behind the ear as he doubled over in pain. Then the big bug left. The following day, Joe went to see his doctor. He explained the events of the preceding four nights. "What can I do, Doc?" he pleaded.

"Not much," the doctor replied.

"There's just a nasty bug going around."

re: #24 WrathofG-d

Socrates was a boy-lover. I'd be cautious as using him as your definition of "rational"

:)

That's ok, I will not judge Socrates sexual preferences. He was the father of rationality!

re: #23 Bob in Breckenridge

Sarah Palin reminds me a lot of Golda Meir...

Huh? How so? Golda was good for Israel and all, but well she was old and ugly.

That Gravel interview was absolute GOLD.

Except for the last minute, when he went back to his lunatic self.

The only sane Democrats are blue-dogs.

Pythagoras' proof of the existence of irrational numbers follows. This discovery so changed the Geek view of the universe that they drowned one of their order, Hippasus of Metapontum, for divulging the existence of irrational numbers to an outsider.
[snip]

[Link: www.myastrologybook.com...]

Rationality was highly important in the ancient Greek culture. That was a good thing, in most respects.

re: #2 lifeofthemind

I honor the gift we get from the English of being flexible. It may appear irrational compared to the oh so linear and metric French. The English did not have a written Constitution because they did not need one. Rationality can be a dead end.

the English will end up wishing they had one, although it already appears to be too late for them.

re: #4 Bobibutu

Occasionally one meets a teacher that is religious and trained in the scientific method and/or art of war. I was blessed with several of these. I have also been battered by nuns who were quite irrational.

i never met a rational nun: only those in habit and those without...

re: #27 EIDE_Interface

Huh? How so? Golda was good for Israel and all, but well she was old and ugly.

Like PM Mier, Gov. Palin is a woman who came out of nowhere, and whom few actually knew about.

re: #12 victor_yugo

--Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

(In other words, there are things about us that Darwin's thought cannot explain.)

or, more accurately, there are things about us we don't yet understand, which some will strive to understand, and others will just attribute to other forces out of intellectual bankruptcy.

re: #34 Bob in Breckenridge

Like PM Mier, Gov. Palin is a woman who came out of nowhere, and whom few actually knew about.

Uh that's not really true. She was involved in Mapai/Mapam politics for ages before becoming PM.

re: #20 BlueCanuck

Carlo Rossi wine is not expensive at all. A 1.5gal jug runs about $12 here.

re: #21 EIDE_Interface

Darwin's theory is more of an all-encompassing concept of adapations coming from competition between species and environmental conditions. I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with it.

His point is that Homo sapiens cannot be explained fully from those adaptations. There's something more going on.

re: #14 BlueCanuck

But of course. The evil jewish settlers must let the rightful dwellers of palestine wipe them out and not raise a single finger in retaliation. After all their unlawful presence is goading the rightful palestinians into attacking them.

/ouch that hurt to right. Anybody got some rum?

i'm reading 1948 as relaxation..... ever peruse that?

got fresh sugar cane, dark rum and ice: want a mojito from hell?

/"Bartender! Rum! Rum for my friends!......

(and the rest of these bastids too. %-)

re: #16 BlueCanuck

Yeah, I know. Muslims for some reason seem to get a bye on everything they do lately. Any one retaliating seems to be painted as racist war mongers.

because they will kill you otherwise?

just a swag

re: #17 victor_yugo

How 'bout some Carlo Rossi Paisano?

well, at least it's got ethanol......

/maybe we can run it through the still? %-)

Bwahahahahahahaha!

Despite record month, Obama needs more cash

“It’s a logistically challenging fundraising environment they face, because time is not on their side and their goals are so ambitious,” said Anthony Corrado, an expert on money and politics.

“Do the math. They have to raise about $3 million a day” to reach an estimated target of about $200 million, he added

Stephen Jay Gould was irrational.

re: #20 BlueCanuck

Sounds expensive, any good?

/expensive does not always mean tasty.

are you kidding? that's a jug wine..............

/box wine precursor

re: #41 Sharmuta

Bwahahahahahahaha!

Despite record month, Obama needs more cash

Obama's busy, getting experience running things.

(Into the ground.)

re: #40 redc1c4

With wine there is no need for a still, just make some cariboo.

/what some people do up here. freeze the wine and pour off the alcohol

Carlo Rossi wines

Very tongue-in-cheek.

re: #41 Sharmuta

Bwahahahahahahaha!

Despite record month, Obama needs more cash

as seen on Patterico all along.....

i'd feel sorry for them, but i'm too busy egging them on.

%-)

re: #44 Tamron

In July, Obama spent $57 million — more than any prior month and more than the $51 million he collected that month. A large chunk of that cash went to the salaries of his expanding field operation.

His expenses for August were a bit higher because of the extensive advertising he aired that month — including a run of commercials during NBC’s broadcast of the Beijing Olympics.

Just imagine how he'll run a national budget!

re: #45 BlueCanuck

With wine there is no need for a still, just make some cariboo.

/what some people do up here. freeze the wine and pour off the alcohol

That's also how some turn apple cider into apple-jack.

re: #44 Tamron

Obama's busy, getting experience running things.

(Into the ground.)

He already had experience with that in Chicago as a community disorganizer.

re: #45 BlueCanuck

With wine there is no need for a still, just make some cariboo.

/what some people do up here. freeze the wine and pour off the alcohol

like i'm gonna wait til winter.....

it may never freeze here anyway.

re: #51 redc1c4

like i'm gonna wait til winter.....

it may never freeze here anyway.

Don't tell me, the person with the recipe for ice died yesterday? :)

re: #50 BlueCanuck

He already had experience with that in Chicago as a community disorganizer.

Hi, Blue!

Morning Tamron.

re: #54 BlueCanuck

Morning Tamron.

--Still before midnight, here.....

re: #1 BlueCanuck

Yeah, most people that don't understand science are very irrational.

but that's only a theory.

re: #55 Tamron

Right, time zones. Thought you might be on PST.

/where did I put that map again.

re: #56 jcw46

but that's only a theory.

Yeah, and it'll stay thataway, too, until someone can come up with a doubleblind crossover study on irrationality.

Geez! It'd be easier to make on up on PMS!

re: #55 Tamron

Skywarrior in your pic?

re: #58 Tamron

Yeah, and it'll stay thataway, too, until someone can come up with a doubleblind crossover study on irrationality.

Geez! It'd be easier to make on up on PMS!

isn't that marriage?

/white smoke

re: #59 redc1c4

Skywarrior in your pic?

Yup. I loved that old bird!

re: #12 victor_yugo

[W]e must be wary of granting too much power to natural selection by viewing all basic capacities of our brain as direct adaptations. I do not doubt that natural selection acted in building our oversized brains -- and I am equally confident that our brains became large as an adaptation for definite roles (probably a complex set of interacting functions). But these assumptions do not lead to the notion, often uncritically embraced by strict Darwinians, that all major capacities of the brain must arise as direct products of natural selection.
--Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

(In other words, there are things about us that Darwin's thought cannot explain.)

Sal: actually, those things that are left unexplained by Darwin's thought applied to genes tend to be explained by Darwin's thought applied to memes.

re: #62 Salamantis

ah, the good old screaming-meemie thoughts.

re: #62 Salamantis

[W]e must be wary of granting too much power to natural selection by viewing all basic capacities of our brain as direct adaptations. I do not doubt that natural selection acted in building our oversized brains -- and I am equally confident that our brains became large as an adaptation for definite roles (probably a complex set of interacting functions). But these assumptions do not lead to the notion, often uncritically embraced by strict Darwinians, that all major capacities of the brain must arise as direct products of natural selection.
--Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

(In other words, there are things about us that Darwin's thought cannot explain.)

Sal: actually, those things that are left unexplained by Darwin's thought applied to genes tend to be explained by Darwin's thought applied to memes.

Oooooh! Way too HEA-VY for me...

("Marty, what does gravity have to do with it?")
.

re: #37 victor_yugo

Carlo Rossi wine is not expensive at all. A 1.5gal jug runs about $12 here.

re: #21 EIDE_Interface

His point is that Homo sapiens cannot be explained fully from those adaptations. There's something more going on.

Yeah; memetics.

Rationality may be the hallmark of man, but intuition has its place. Sometimes, in ways we can't explain, let alone justify, we get "just a hunch." The decision to set aside rationality in (temporary) favor of raw perception can yield great benefit to those who know how to do so wisely.

More than once, my intuition has saved my skin. Given how weak my intuition is in general, when it jumps up and down screaming for attention, I figure I'd better take note.

re: #64 Tamron

Oooooh! Way too HEA-VY for me...

("Marty, what does gravity have to do with it?")
.

Defy the laws of gravity --- SMILE! :>

We are evolved by natural selection to pick up, or to impose, patterns; to see things in the shadows, whether or not they are there. Those who mistakenly see a predator that is not there just receive a momentary fright; those who miss a predator that is there become the predator's dinner. And do not survive to reproduce and pass on their genes.

re: #67 jcw46

Defy the laws of gravity --- SMILE! :>

Tried that once, all I got was a nice set of bruises.

/it's hard trying to throw yourself at the ground and missing.

So why does Obama need so much money? I thought he had everything locked up, so the MSM and Daily Kos told me...

re: #68 Salamantis

We are evolved by natural selection to pick up, or to impose, patterns; to see things in the shadows, whether or not they are there. Those who mistakenly see a predator that is not there just receive a momentary fright; those who miss a predator that is there become the predator's dinner. And do not survive to reproduce and pass on their genes.

And they get the Darwin Award for that year!

Why is the AP writing about this?

Low-profile headquarters for high-profile Obama

There going to get right on a similar article about McCain headquarters, right?

re: #33 redc1c4

i never met a rational nun: only those in habit and those without...

I may have actually met one .. she was Sister Superior at the boarding school my sisters and I attended for a while. But she was much older than the other nuns so I may be mistaking wisdom for rationality.
;-)

re: #66 victor_yugo
Actually what you're doing could be termed rationality. Wiki entry for rationality.

"However, rationality is a much broader term than logic, as it includes "uncertain but sensible" arguments based on probability, expectation, personal experience and the like, whereas logic deals principally with provable facts and demonstrably valid relations between them."

re: #70 EIDE_Interface

So why does Obama need so much money? I thought he had everything locked up, so the MSM and Daily Kos told me...

Uh....and you've been believing them.

re: #72 Sharmuta

Why is the AP writing about this?

Low-profile headquarters for high-profile Obama

There going to get right on a similar article about McCain headquarters, right?

Slow news day...

re: #69 BlueCanuck
Listen if arthur could manage it, how hard could it be?

re: #75 Sharmuta

Uh....and you've been believing them.

Some people can't detect sarcasm...

Sharm: I answered the posts on the evo thread.

re: #78 EIDE_Interface

It has nothing to do with my ability to detect sarcasm- it has to do with the fact that for the last week or two you've been a complete defeatist.

re: #77 jcw46

yeah, but he got distracted at a crucial point.

/never could get that timing right.

re: #62 Salamantis

those things that are left unexplained by Darwin's thought applied to genes tend to be explained by Darwin's thought applied to memes.

Fine, if you get to mis-apply a theory, then so do I:

According to Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem (at least a statement of it last night), the human mind cannot explain itself. If it does, then it alters itself, becoming something different from what it previously understood.

Furthermore, if a human mind suddenly could comprehend itself, it would need to stop functioning in order to lock that understanding into place, lest some outside perception alter it.

Besides, does it bother you that you have become totally predictable?

One common meme is the earworm; that nagging tune you just can't get out of your head...

Oh, at the Copa
Copacabana
The hottest spot north of Havana...

Suffer! hehe

re: #82 victor_yugo

Sounds totally quantum dude.

re: #83 Salamantis

One common meme is the earworm; that nagging tune you just can't get out of your head...

Oh, at the Copa
Copacabana
The hottest spot north of Havana...

Suffer! hehe

I have a far more insidious tune that can drive out any ear-worm you throw at me.

It will be in heavy rotation around Christmas.

re: #83 Salamantis

Keep that up and you're going to get rickrolled.

re: #80 Sharmuta

It has nothing to do with my ability to detect sarcasm- it has to do with the fact that for the last week or two you've been a complete defeatist.

Target! repeat!

/loads Sabot

UP!

The way to remove a song stuck in your head is to sing another song. Any song. Even "Happy Birthday" will do.

....at the Coooopaaaaaa........

re: #83 Salamantis

One common meme is the earworm; that nagging tune you just can't get out of your head...

Oh, at the Copa
Copacabana
The hottest spot north of Havana...

Suffer! hehe

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there.

13) Staring at a Screen Darkly

The advent of the Internet recombines the abolition of space-time barriers to communication with the constant and instant availability of (potentially) practically all textual knowledge, as computer aided design and computer assisted manufacture threaten to leave the proletariat with little beyond bourgeois leisure and a subsistence stipend. The underclass will be known not as the unwashed, but as the unwired. With every computer terminal a samizdat, governments (and religions) will progressively lose their ability to tell the big lies and make them stick (see Zapatista). Guerilla semioticians will increasingly 'poach' the icons and symbols of governmental, religious and corporate institutions and imbue them with different and frequently subversive meanings (The Practice of Everyday Life, Michel de Certeau, 1984). Authority will issue not from age, race, gender or status, but from the internal consistency, logical cogency, linguistic clarity and external coherence of one's positions. Spoken and written language forms will continue vanishing as quickly as endangered species, as informational selection takes its Darwinian toll. The hegemony of employment over location will melt away as more and more jobs can be performed from anywhere with power and a telephone line. Global democracy will supersede multiple national sovereignties as humanity's attachments to borders and boundaries will shrink along with their relevance to the lives of an increasingly individually sovereign citizenry (as Francis Fukuyama foresaw in The End Of History, 1992). The policy debates now occurring within electronic 'town meetings' will be settled by cyber-votes. The Human Genome Project will allow human beings to genetically know themselves (Socrates and Hippocrates would be pleased) and to re-engineer their codes to remove textual errors (inherited defects). If they like the result, genocopies (clones) will be possible, and there is already talk of exploiting the shared binary codes of computer language and the double helix to create DNA computers. The meme will then have traveled full circle, finding its way back to the gene. In the coming millennium, homo sapiens will be both weavers of and woven by, for better or for worse, the informational warp and communicational weft of a co-evolutionary New Web Order.

/suck on it

re: #83 Salamantis

One common meme is the earworm; that nagging tune you just can't get out of your head...

Oh, at the Copa
Copacabana
The hottest spot north of Havana...

Suffer! hehe

never heard it before.... what is it?

re: #14 BlueCanuck

But of course. The evil jewish settlers must let the rightful dwellers of palestine wipe them out and not raise a single finger in retaliation. After all their unlawful presence is goading the rightful palestinians into attacking them.

/ouch that hurt to right. Anybody got some rum?

The simple notion that an avowed non-Muslim exists is deeply, mortifyingly offensive to the sensibilities of a great majority of Muslims.

re: #87 redc1c4

High five, yo.

re: #82 victor_yugo

Fine, if you get to mis-apply a theory, then so do I:

According to Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem (at least a statement of it last night), the human mind cannot explain itself. If it does, then it alters itself, becoming something different from what it previously understood.

Furthermore, if a human mind suddenly could comprehend itself, it would need to stop functioning in order to lock that understanding into place, lest some outside perception alter it.

Besides, does it bother you that you have become totally predictable?

Actually, what it entails is that the human mind never ceases to grow, as new information floods in. Once you understood it all, you'd have to understand that understanding, then understand your understanding of that understanding, and so on ad nauseum ad infinitum.

But we can understand how brains in general work; that is quite different from being cognitively cognizant of everything that is going on in our own.

In that sense, humans are trapped between the absolute unselfawareness of things and the supreme selfunderstanding of deities. The circular snake of self-conscious awareness must bite its own tail, but it cannot swallow its own jaws.

re: #84 BlueCanuck

Sounds totally quantum dude.

Actually, that's part of it. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states, in essence, that the sum of the certainties of particle position and particle velocity equals a constant. The more definite the measurement of one, the less definite the measurement of the other.

Within the brain, learning anything alters the overall quantum state of the brain. It follows that the brain learning something about itself alters its own quantum state.

If the human brain could fully know its own quantum state, on all levels, it would immediately take on some other quantum state, and that knowledge would become invalid.

re: #83 Salamantis

Good thing I don't know the notes to that one... this one, on the other hand...

re: #89 Killian Bundy Where's THAT from?

re: #80 Sharmuta

It has nothing to do with my ability to detect sarcasm- it has to do with the fact that for the last week or two you've been a complete defeatist.

Should I be a triumphalist? It's still 50 days to go, I don't want to get overconfident. The MSM and Obama will pull out all the stops to defeat us...

re: #96 jcw46

Where's THAT from?

Salamantis. I'm sure he'll be very proud to provide a link to it.

re: #94 victor_yugo

A bit like Life, the Universe, and Everything...

re: #94 victor_yugo

I yearn for the days when it was thought memory was holographic instead of quantum. :)

/good news is that there is probably no upper limit to memory.
//just retrieval unfortunately

Here's some more of it, Killian:

12) Why Technology Had to Precede Language, and the March of the Ur-Meme

The coordinated system of perception and action which humans possess took millions of years to develop, and our huge and finely articulated brains required constant selective reinforcement from the environment in order to evolve. In this sense, our quick strong bright nimbleness is a result of the pre-reproductive demise of a lot of slow weak clumsy dumb ancestors. These are individual skills; those with them have a prima facie reproductive advantage over those without them. Language, however, is social. What possible use could it have been for the first mutant to have a modest capacity for linguistic expression in the absence of interlocutors? Language facility is simply not a likely candidate for gradual evolution in the same manner as hunting and gathering skills. It is much more likely that a genetically dominant second order mutation in brain systems organization hijacked an already elaborated hand-eye coordination system and applied it to the "mouth-ear" nexus (Uniquely Human, Philip Lieberman, 1991). In this way, the social benefits could be realized in just a few generations. Once this mutation spread within a group of hunter-gatherers, its members could yell for help better and both express and apprehend more subtle emotional states – useful skills in a nomadic foraging band. Being informationally rather than biologically based, the machine, phonetic and phonemic principles of tools, signs and texts were nevertheless most likely extrapolated from the gestalt contexture of action/perception; the structures underlining these therefore appear to constitute a combinatorial Ur-meme (The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins, 1976). Genes are physical characteristics that exercise configurational control and evolve within a species by means of mutation and natural selection; they are replicated through sexual reproduction between members of that species, and are naturally selected for by the differential rates of reproduction of those who possess them (and the configurations of which they are templates) vs. those who don't, or possess different ones. Memes, on the other hand, are mental/cognitive characteristics that exercise behavioral control, mutate within the minds of their holders, and multiply by being passed between them via communication or imitation. They are replicated by being spread from intentionally or inadvertently teaching carriers to learning recipients, who either intentionally or inadvertently select to accept or reject them, by means of communicative behaviors, such as showing, telling or writing. They evolve by means of the differential selection rates of some memetic variants vs. others (The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins, 1976). Self-conscious awareness, signification, intentionality and the capacity to actualize our intentions are required for intentional teaching and learning; only then may we purposefully attempt to direct the evolution and spread of freely chosen memes. Remember the Gaia Hypothesis (James Lovelock, 1979)? It states that the aggregate of terrestrial life tends to regulate its own environment to facilitate its own perpetuation. Now, imagine human minds as, due to the evolution of their somatic perceptual structuring of their surroundings, already favorably disposed environments in which these principles, considered as informational forms of life, or info-species, take root. They would need to protect their niches and to replicate; the first is accomplished by evolving to give the host environment a reason to have them around (much like E. Coli bacteria facilitate digestion) and the second by evolving ease of infection (transmitting/teaching the principles to others).

to be continued...

re: #89 Killian Bundy
Okay, sorry, missed the attributions as I was scanning.

Once tool-craft got going, tool forms would evolve to give the best selective advantage to those possessing them at the same time humans would evolve to more quickly and efficiently conceive of and produce better and better tools. Once language piggybacked onto the co-opted coordination system, it would evolve to be most easily absorbed into children's brains at the same time it would offer a progressively greater selective social advantage to those children whose brains were most permeable to it (The Symbolic Species, Terrence W. Deacon, 1997). The evolutionary imperative is in this case exactly the opposite of that of biotic killers such as influenza, measles, and gonorrhea, which had to evolve to become less virulent to allow for their transmission before the death of the host. In their case, the more efficient lose the competition to those strains that manifest slower or less completely. On the contrary, incubation of these info-species grants a selective reproductive advantage to those infected; the evolutionary exigencies therefore gravitate towards more communicable forms with faster incubation and more global mental infestation. Rather than virulent, these memes are budding symbionts; like mental mitochondria. And so telling is more easily and widely communicable than showing, and writing more amenable to distribution than telling. So far this may seem mere speculation, but watch how it dovetails with history.

Once texts began to be created, they became more desired as the literati gained power and influence. Scholars and scribes seemed to exist solely for the task of creating and replicating libraries of texts, which seemed to exist solely to employ scribes and train scholars. Mass production of tools and texts has led to corporate culture, labor division and assembly lines, which in turn have allowed the construction of mass communications systems, and mass transit systems to distribute both the codes and their carriers. These dendritic hybrids of tool, sign and text are connecting human 'neurons' into a terran brain, communicating our codes by means of metacodes. Not only has the ground of past history beneath our feet been excavated by means of our textually informed gaze, but also the horizon of the future has been dissolved into the present as our televisions and telephones abolish space-time through instantaneous communication (The Spell of the Sensuous, David Abram, 1996). And we have made countless copies of them all.

re: #94 victor_yugo

Actually, that's part of it. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states, in essence, that the sum of the certainties of particle position and particle velocity equals a constant. The more definite the measurement of one, the less definite the measurement of the other.

Within the brain, learning anything alters the overall quantum state of the brain. It follows that the brain learning something about itself alters its own quantum state.

If the human brain could fully know its own quantum state, on all levels, it would immediately take on some other quantum state, and that knowledge would become invalid.

Not incorrect; merely incomplete.

re: #96 jcw46

Where's THAT from?

I wrote it...and the other except I posted.

re: #103 Salamantis

TL;DR

re: #100 BlueCanuck

I yearn for the days when it was thought memory was holographic instead of quantum. :)

Not to worry; it's both. After all, don't your perceptions of holographic images rely on quantum effects?

re: #96 jcw46

Where's THAT from?

/Myspace

re: #107 victor_yugo

*pop*

/the sound you just heard was of a brain imploding
//my fault for not keeping up todate.

To be rational means to adhere to the facts of reality, i.e. to employ reason as one's only means of knowledge. Religion is the antithesis of reason, relying as it does on revelation and faith. To adhere to religion means to suspend one's reason in favor of faith, in the face of evidence contrary to doctrine. It does not get any more irrational than that. Religion is the height of irrationality, and as such, is, and must be, the sworn enemy of science.

re: #110 mpj

To be rational means to adhere to the facts of reality, i.e. to employ reason as one's only means of knowledge. Religion is the antithesis of reason, relying as it does on revelation and faith. To adhere to religion means to suspend one's reason in favor of faith, in the face of evidence contrary to doctrine. It does not get any more irrational than that. Religion is the height of irrationality, and as such, is, and must be, the sworn enemy of science.

Maybe get an avatar.

/and try for twenty

Earlier this evening, I attended a concert out near Malibu, in California (specifically, on Topanga Blvd near the ocean).

It was like a huge biker party, and I felt like Pee-Wee Herman in that biker scene at the bar.

Anyway, they had some kick-ass bands and performances: Great White was totally awesome, and they can still rock hard. "War" was also excellent (killer sound setup as well). Some local bands were quite enjoyable...

Then they introduced DEVO (if you don't remember, they were most famous for "Whip It" in the 80's). Up until then, the concert had been very apolitical. Then DEVO had to open there stupid yaps and tell us "This is dedicated to Sarah Palin!" and proceeded to play a song called "Mongoloid". Here are the lyrics:

Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
Happier than you and me
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
And it determined what he could see
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
One chromosome too many
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
And it determined what he could see
And he wore a hat
And he had a job
And he brought home the bacon
So that no one knew
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
His friends were unaware
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
Nobody even cared

Even more disturbing was when they finished, most of the crowd went wild. I have to force myself to believe that they were unaware of the significance of the putrid dedication... Or are people simply that f***ed up?!? Even my "hippie" wife was horrified. To be honest, the audience reaction was a little milder than other songs and I looked around and saw a few folks looking sheepish or shaking their heads.

Still, it appears nothing is off limits these days.

Anyway, if you happen to encounter any member of DEVO, feel free to *THIS SECTION VIOLATES LGF POLICY*

However, you can't be rational if you're not using real facts. Facts do not exist objectively speaking, they are subjective. One's frame of reference decides everything. Rationality only exists when sufficient number of people agree on a framework.

re: #108 Killian Bundy
Thanks.

Bolivia is blowing up. See [Link: gatewaypundit.blogspot.com...]

re: #113 EIDE_Interface

However, you can't be rational if you're not using real facts. Facts do not exist objectively speaking, they are subjective. One's frame of reference decides everything. Rationality only exists when sufficient number of people agree on a framework.

I disagree. We have different perspectives on the world, but it is the selfsame world we apprehend from our differing perspectives. What differ are not the objective |(or intersubjective) facts, but the interpretations subjectively overlain upon them.

As Maurice Merleau-Ponty stated:

"If a friend and I are standing before a landscape, and if I attempt to show my friend something which I see and which he does not yet see, we cannot account for the situation by saying that I see something in my own world and that I attempt, by sending verbal messages, to give rise to an analogous perception in the world of my friend. There are not two numerically distinct worlds plus a mediating language which alone would bring us together. There is - and I know it very well if I become impatient with him - a kind of demand that what I see be seen by him also. And at the same time this communication is required by the very thing which I am looking at, by the reflection of sunlight upon it, by its color, by its sensible evidence. The thing imposes itself not as true for every intellect, but as real for every subject who is standing where I am."

re: #112 Son Of The Godfather

Wow- that is disgusting.

re: #105 Salamantis

for what's it's worth; I'm impressed. Killian posted the link and I saved it for later, for more fuller reading.

re: #118 jcw46

for what's it's worth; I'm impressed. Killian posted the link and I saved it for later, for more fuller reading.

I have 17 of my essays posted at that site. Lemme know if you like the one you have enough to wanna read more of them.

re: #110 mpj

Sworn enemy? lol Work some wisdom in, you're talking like a freshman.

re: #113 EIDE_Interface

However, you can't be rational if you're not using real facts. Facts do not exist objectively speaking, they are subjective. One's frame of reference decides everything. Rationality only exists when sufficient number of people agree on a framework.

/Bomb 20

re: #97 EIDE_Interface

Should I be a triumphalist? It's still 50 days to go, I don't want to get overconfident. The MSM and Obama will pull out all the stops to defeat us...

So- it's one extreme or the other? How about looking at the data and realizing that while we're in a fight, it's one we can win. Or- you can run around here spouting off like a defeatist and pissing people off.

re: #112 Son Of The Godfather

Well, that's another band off my play list.

/time to start listening to country and classical music *sigh*

re: #121 Killian Bundy

Heh heh, you really like that clip don't you. :)

/going to have to see the whole movie some day. Only watched the ending way back on late night t.v.

Bwahahahahaha

Joe Who?

Since the Delaware senator left Obama's side and ventured out on his own on Labor Day, he has hardly garnered any national media interest at all.

His plane, a blue chartered 737, now crosses the country with about three-quarters of its seats empty, rows and rows with nary a warm body to be found.

re: #123 BlueCanuck

Yup, I hate it when a decent band goes and messes it all up by, you know, talking.

re: #123 BlueCanuck

Check this excellent classical performance.

By an emo (I think).

re: #97 EIDE_Interface

Should I be a triumphalist? It's still 50 days to go, I don't want to get overconfident. The MSM and Obama will pull out all the stops to defeat us...

I can relate. It's not the victory or the defeat that gets me, it's the waiting for the results.

re: #127 victor_yugo

Listened to it earlier and saved it to my youtube faves list.

re: #129 BlueCanuck

Check out the Flight of the Bumblebee encore.

My balls hurt after watching that one.

re: #130 victor_yugo

Check out the Flight of the Bumblebee encore.

My balls hurt after watching that one.

Don't speak to me of bumblebees and balls. ;)

/long story. no pain involved though thankfully.

re: #122 Sharmuta

So- it's one extreme or the other? How about looking at the data and realizing that while we're in a fight, it's one we can win. Or- you can run around here spouting off like a defeatist and pissing people off.

Warning of possible negative consequences gets most people down but if we just sit around praising our victories, the enemy may act to our detriment and without counterattack. Though being obsessive about the negative possibilities can be very tiring to those you wish to alert and thus self-defeating.

re: #112 Son Of The Godfather

Earlier this evening, I attended a concert out near Malibu, in California (specifically, on Topanga Blvd near the ocean).

It was like a huge biker party, and I felt like Pee-Wee Herman in that biker scene at the bar.

Anyway, they had some kick-ass bands and performances: Great White was totally awesome, and they can still rock hard. "War" was also excellent (killer sound setup as well). Some local bands were quite enjoyable...

Then they introduced DEVO (if you don't remember, they were most famous for "Whip It" in the 80's). Up until then, the concert had been very apolitical. Then DEVO had to open there stupid yaps and tell us "This is dedicated to Sarah Palin!" and proceeded to play a song called "Mongoloid". Here are the lyrics:

Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
Happier than you and me
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
And it determined what he could see
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
One chromosome too many
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
And it determined what he could see
And he wore a hat
And he had a job
And he brought home the bacon
So that no one knew
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
His friends were unaware
Mongoloid he was a mongoloid
Nobody even cared

Even more disturbing was when they finished, most of the crowd went wild. I have to force myself to believe that they were unaware of the significance of the putrid dedication... Or are people simply that f***ed up?!? Even my "hippie" wife was horrified. To be honest, the audience reaction was a little milder than other songs and I looked around and saw a few folks looking sheepish or shaking their heads.

Still, it appears nothing is off limits these days.

Anyway, if you happen to encounter any member of DEVO, feel free to *THIS SECTION VIOLATES LGF POLICY*

well, right until i read the end of this story i was jealous i wasn't there, and a Devo fan.....

now i'm glad i stayed home and i won't be looking to see them any more.

re: #115 Molon Labe

Bolivia is blowing up. See [Link: gatewaypundit.blogspot.com...]

no great loss.... except to the po' Bolivians.

Barack Obama Embellishes His Resume

Don’t get me wrong - I’m a big fan of Barack Obama, the Illinois freshman senator and hot young Democratic Party star. But after reading his autobiography, I have to say that Barack engages in some serious exaggeration when he describes a job that he held in the mid-1980s.I know because I sat down the hall from him, in the same department, and worked closely with his boss. I can’t say I was particularly close to Barack - he was reserved and distant towards all of his co-workers - but I was probably as close to him as anyone. I certainly know what he did there, and it bears only a loose resemblance to what he wrote in his book.

Here’s Barack’s account:

Eventually a consulting house to multinational corporations agreed to hire me as a research assistant. Like a spy behind enemy lines, I arrived every day at my mid-Manhattan office and sat at my computer terminal, checking the Reuters machine that blinked bright emerald messages from across the globe. As far as I could tell I was the only black man in the company, a source of shame for me but a source of considerable pride for the company’s secretarial pool.

First, it wasn’t a consulting house; it was a small company that published newsletters on international business. Like most newsletter publishers, it was a bit of a sweatshop. I’m sure we all wished that we were high-priced consultants to multinational corporations. But we also enjoyed coming in at ten, wearing jeans to work, flirting with our co-workers, partying when we stayed late, and bonding over the low salaries and heavy workload.

Barack worked on one of the company’s reference publications. Each month customers got a new set of pages on business conditions in a particular country, punched to fit into a three-ring binder. Barack’s job was to get copy from the country correspondents and edit it so that it fit into a standard outline. There was probably some research involved as well, since correspondents usually don’t send exactly what you ask for, and you can’t always decipher their copy. But essentially the job was copyediting.

Is it just me or is the number of entertainers worthy of spending cash on dwindling? I really don't want to know their politics I just want to be entertained. When they commingle their talent with statements about their politics (especially is particularly stupid or stupidly done) I become unable to be entertained by them as all I can remember is the stupidity and that they are on the opposite side of issues that are central to the well being of myself and this country.

I yearn for the day when all the victories have been won and I can just enjoy the rest of my life. Alas, I don't think it will come in my lifetime.

re: #133 redc1c4

To be completely honest, the concert was put on either by or for "narcotics anonymous". (no, not my wife or myself!... We "know people")

Not to belittle the NA program, but you could see that there were probably "after-effects" of years of abuse in a majority of the crowd.

Good morning room...

today hit .. to check if the LHC has already destroyed the world...

[Link: www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet. com...]

re: #136 jcw46

Is it just me or is the number of entertainers worthy of spending cash on dwindling? I really don't want to know their politics I just want to be entertained. When they commingle their talent with statements about their politics (especially is particularly stupid or stupidly done) I become unable to be entertained by them as all I can remember is the stupidity and that they are on the opposite side of issues that are central to the well being of myself and this country.

Amen.

re: #136 jcw46

Is it just me or is the number of entertainers worthy of spending cash on dwindling? I really don't want to know their politics I just want to be entertained. When they commingle their talent with statements about their politics (especially is particularly stupid or stupidly done) I become unable to be entertained by them as all I can remember is the stupidity and that they are on the opposite side of issues that are central to the well being of myself and this country.

Just dig up some old movies. I was watching the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston with my girlfriend earlier. Now there was a good entertainer.

re: #1 BlueCanuck

Yeah, most people that don't understand science are very irrational.

The only thing more irrational are the people who think they understand science, but don't (see Gore, Albert Jr.).

re: #141 humanliberty

Just dig up some old movies. I was watching the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston with my girlfriend earlier. Now there was a good entertainer.

On the Waterfront(1954)

re: #141 humanliberty

Just dig up some old movies. I was watching the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston with my girlfriend earlier. Now there was a good entertainer.

I find it hard to think of him without hearing a Jim Rome emailer/caller reference his senility in my head. :)

re: #142 stuiec

The only thing more irrational are the people who think they understand science, but don't (see Gore, Albert Jr.).

"Global warming science is fully decided"

re: #139 loveguru

Good morning room...

today hit .. to check if the LHC has already destroyed the world...

[Link: www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedth eworldyet.com...]

Yeah, so far so good. (that's what the guy who fell off a 50 story building said as he passed the the 30th floor).

re: #1 BlueCanuck

Yeah, most people that don't understand science are very irrational.

To quote the Prophet:

(Bill Hicks before you go nuts. :))

"Did you ever notice how those that don't believe in evolution look generally... unevolved?
"I believe God made me in one day.
"Looks like he rushed it."

re: #132 jcw46

Warning of possible negative consequences gets most people down but if we just sit around praising our victories, the enemy may act to our detriment and without counterattack. Though being obsessive about the negative possibilities can be very tiring to those you wish to alert and thus self-defeating.

/marker drop

re: #115 Molon Labe

Bolivia is blowing up. See [Link: gatewaypundit.blogspot.com...]

Santa Cruz will split off. They are rich, intelligent, and free market. The rest of the country seems poor, stupid and communist.

re: #119 Salamantis

I have 17 of my essays posted at that site. Lemme know if you like the one you have enough to wanna read more of them.

By all means, post all the linkys.

/too much fun

re: #125 Sharmuta

Bwahahahahaha

Joe Who?

REMEMBER WHEN OBAMA COMPLAINS ABOUT SLEAZE that is exactly what his folks will be doing.

re: #149 humanliberty

Santa Cruz will split off. They are rich, intelligent, and free market. The rest of the country seems poor, stupid and communist.

That's okay, we'll just saw them off of California (maybe with Santa Monica as well) and let them float away.

/

Andrew Sullivan claims that McCain made an outright lie on "The View":

McCain said Palin denied all earmarks

Well the real truth is that she reduced earmarks in her first 2 budgets, not eliminated them. It doesn't help our cause if McCain makes outlandish statements like that for our enemies to pounce upon.

re: #146 jcw46

Yeah, so far so good. (that's what the guy who fell off a 50 story building said as he passed the the 30th floor).

NOPE

re: #139 loveguru

Good morning room...

today hit .. to check if the LHC has already destroyed the world...

[Link: www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedth eworldyet.com...]

even a LargeHardon can only do so much damage.....

re: #152 victor_yugo

That's okay, we'll just saw them off of California (maybe with Santa Monica as well) and let them float away.

/

who's we?

/saw *this*

re: #139 loveguru

Oh! I see what you did there.

/the immortal wisdom of Philip Fry...

Wonder if our scaly lizard overlord is a day-trader. Not that I pay attention 100% of the time, but the whole Merrill Lynch/Bank of America thing has pretty much caught me off guard.

Honestly, I was just gonna sit back and track the performance of Texas-based companies like Center Point Energy and some of the pipeline companies that serve the gulf coast in the wake of Ike.

re: #153 EIDE_Interface

Andrew Sullivan claims that McCain made an outright lie on "The View":

McCain said Palin denied all earmarks

Well the real truth is that she reduced earmarks in her first 2 budgets, not eliminated them. It doesn't help our cause if McCain makes outlandish statements like that for our enemies to pounce upon.

you're quoting Andy, and Andy hasn't been right yet.

(and you wonder why we think you suck. %-)

re: #150 Killian Bundy

By all means, post all the linkys.

/too much fun

It just grated you that someone actually liked that essay, didn't it? hehe

re: #158 Fenway_Nation

Well, the Great Zionist Conspiracy has to have its greedy tentacles in the financial institutions...

/ q:

re: #158 Fenway_Nation

re: #161 laZardo

Where do you think we get our zionist checks from.

/think my latest deposit is late again.

Here's one for you, Killian...;~)

[Link: blog.myspace.com...]

re: #162 BlueCanuck

I have mine auto-routed to pay for my college education like a good elitist imperialist conservonazi should.

/ [=

re: #162 BlueCanuck

I thought it was every first and every fifteenth we got our Zionist checks. You know....the ones with the basket full of puppies on them.

re: #160 Salamantis

It just grated you that someone actually liked that essay, didn't it? hehe

Well, you win, I'm embarrassed.

/please post the 17 linkys, I've only seen three

BBL, snackage.

re: #153 EIDE_Interface
Let's accept now that the DKOS Media will examine any statement by McCain/Palin with a 200x microscope while smiling blankly at any thing O and Joe puke up. The important thing to keep in mind is whether the voters are getting the correct information elsewhere. This is where the DKM has hurt itself the most by their panic-stricken lash-out at Sarah; it finally exposed their bias for ALL to see thus raising in more people's minds the truth of ANYTHING they report concerning the candidates.
The one thing I am concerned about is a story that IS true and is negative enough to do damage that can't be repaired in time. So far nothing is sticking.

(crosses fingers, toes and eyes while saying prayer).

re: #159 redc1c4

you're quoting Andy, and Andy hasn't been right yet.

(and you wonder why we think you suck. %-)

Well here's the video:

McCain on The View

He seems confused as to what Palin did exactly with earmarks. I hope when the VP debate comes up she'll be very clear about it.

re: #165 Fenway_Nation

I thought it was every first and every fifteenth we got our Zionist checks. You know....the ones with the basket full of puppies on them.

I want my puppies to be blender-friendly, so I can sell them to Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds...;~)

Can McCain Really Win Pennsylvania?

That depends on who you ask. Don't ask EIDE, but Salena Zito seems to think so.

re: #166 Killian Bundy

Well, you win, I'm embarrassed.

/please post the 17 linkys, I've only seen three

One at a time, Killian; check #163...

re: #171 Sharmuta

Can McCain Really Win Pennsylvania?

That depends on who you ask. Don't ask EIDE, but Salena Zito seems to think so.

Given that there are a million more registered Democrats, I say no. Better to concentrate on winning New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado then a mostly hopeless case in PA. Keep Palin circulating in WI, MN, OH, MI, IN for the next 2 weeks.

re: #173 EIDE_Interface

Given that there are a million more registered Democrats, I say no. Better to concentrate on winning New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado then a mostly hopeless case in PA. Keep Palin circulating in WI, MN, OH, MI, IN for the next 2 weeks.

Pennsylvania has only 1 more electoral vote than Ohio, and at the moment it seems "barely Dem" according to electoral-vote.com. It would be a gamble, but it could pay off BIG.

re: #172 Salamantis

One at a time, Killian; check #163...

You're verbose, takes a while to digest.

Also do not think that I have written this analysis from the standpoint of a hidden Christian or Jewish agenda. Putting aside the fact that attacking the racial or ethnic membership or the religious affiliation of the author of a position, rather than critiquing the merits of the position itself by assessing the evidence presented and checking the logical links in the chain of reasoning by means of which the items of evidence are connected, is a 2500 year old Greek logical fallacy known as ad hominem, I am neither Christian nor a Jew, either ethnically or as a religious stance; I am English, Irish, Dutch and Native American, and consider myself to be a secular humanist with pagan overtones (I tend towards sympathy with both the gender egalitarianism and the ecologically friendly stance embraced by many pagan faiths and their adherents, as well as their typically tolerant and positive attitude towards the freedom of all to make uncoerced and unfettered personal choices for themselves in matters both political and religious, and their opposition to such matters being dictated by some for others). I am not a fundamentalist of any stripe. Philosophically, I favor existential and hermeneutic phenomenology, Jean Piaget's genetic epistemology, semiotics, and memetics (my BA is in philosophy) and my graduate studies have been in interdisciplinary humanities, including philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and comparative religion.

/bring it on, dig it deep

re: #173 EIDE_Interface

Something tells me you didn't even read the article.

re: #173 EIDE_Interface

Given that there are a million more registered Democrats, I say no. Better to concentrate on winning New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado then a mostly hopeless case in PA. Keep Palin circulating in WI, MN, OH, MI, IN for the next 2 weeks.

and we, or anyone, should listen to you because of what, exactly?

re: #173 EIDE_Interface

Given that there are a million more registered Democrats, I say no. Better to concentrate on winning New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado then a mostly hopeless case in PA. Keep Palin circulating in WI, MN, OH, MI, IN for the next 2 weeks.

Read the comments on the column as well. He's within the margin of error, he's going to win all the rural spots of PA (likely by large margins), and his whole campaign is full of the Big Mo.

re: #174 victor_yugo

Pennsylvania has only 1 more electoral vote than Ohio, and at the moment it seems "barely Dem" according to electoral-vote.com. It would be a gamble, but it could pay off BIG.

To me it's not worth the risk of pouring resources while NM, CO and NV aren't firmly back in the GOP column. First rule is defend Bush's red states from 2004, then go after blue states.

re: #176 Sharmuta

Something tells me you didn't even read the article.

Moby's can read?

re: #177 redc1c4

and we, or anyone, should listen to you because of what, exactly?

I'm suggesting what the campaign should do. In fact they are listening to me, because Palin is in CO tomorrow morning for a rally. Good job.

re: #180 redc1c4

Moby's can read?

I did read the article and it said that PA was unlikely to win unless McCain were to pour HUGE resources into it.

re: #181 EIDE_Interface

Count the recycled flags from last month in Denver.....

re: #179 EIDE_Interface

To me it's not worth the risk of pouring resources while NM, CO and NV aren't firmly back in the GOP column. First rule is defend Bush's red states from 2004, then go after blue states.

Yes- it IS worth it. 0bama is hurting- make him spend the money to keep his states blue. Meanwhile, McCain & the RNC have plenty of money to woo whatever states they want.

Obama lies about NAFTA

re: #182 EIDE_Interface

I did read the article and it said that PA was unlikely to win unless McCain were to pour HUGE resources into it.

Where did it say that?! You're just making sh*t up now.

re: #171 Sharmuta

Here's the key to Pennsylvania: The 4 counties around Philadelphia will determine the election. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, probably Scranton and definitely Happy Valley will go for Obama. The rest of the small towns and rural areas will go for McCain. Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties are the "swing" counties.

When the parties give out the lawn signs I'll be able to better guess the winner in Pennsylvania. :-)

/if I can afford the gas to ride around and do a "survey" ...:-(

re: #184 Sharmuta

Yes- it IS worth it. 0bama is hurting- make him spend the money to keep his states blue. Meanwhile, McCain & the RNC have plenty of money to woo whatever states they want.

Risky strategy, I don't know if I would have the guts to do it like that...

re: #179 EIDE_Interface

To me it's not worth the risk of pouring resources while NM, CO and NV aren't firmly back in the GOP column. First rule is defend Bush's red states from 2004, then go after blue states.

NV: 5, CO: 9, NM: 5, PA: 21.

If he takes PA, he can concede NM and then focus on CO and NV. Besides, it's not like he's heading to California for a week to lessen the pounding he's going to take there.

re: #186 Sharmuta

Where did it say that?! You're just making sh*t up now.

PA hasn't been in the GOP column for 20 years already. No matter that McCain is closing in the polls, that's 4 straight times we've lost PA. You don't just win a blue state like PA by spending a moderate amount of money and time.

re: #188 EIDE_Interface

Risky strategy, I don't know if I would have the guts to do it like that...

Why not? Zero's hemorrhaging money trying to get within the error margin now. What looked like certain victory for Zero is now touch and go... and America's the better for it.

Good morning, afternoon, evening *everyone*!™

Fruitcup is on the buffet -------------------->
Help yourselves!

re: #187 littleoldlady

That's about what the article said.

Good morning littleoldlady, thanks for the fruitcup.

re: #188 EIDE_Interface

Risky strategy, I don't know if I would have the guts to do it like that...

That must be why your not on the campaign's strategy team.

You can't go by registration numbers either in Pennsylvania. A lot of people switched parties to vote for Hillary.

/who, if you recall, won by 10 points in the primary

Lost causes:

Maine, Mass, NY, NJ, CA, Oregon, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Illinois, Iowa.

Blueish states that are possible:
Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington

Red states that are dangerously even:

Missouri, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida

re: #187 littleoldlady

Here's the key to Pennsylvania: The 4 counties around Philadelphia will determine the election. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, probably Scranton and definitely Happy Valley will go for Obama. The rest of the small towns and rural areas will go for McCain. Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties are the "swing" counties.

When the parties give out the lawn signs I'll be able to better guess the winner in Pennsylvania. :-)

/if I can afford the gas to ride around and do a "survey" ...:-(

Been seeing more McCain lawn signs around susquehanna valley small town pa than b4 sarah.
As to more dem registrations; pa allowed changing party affiliation for primary == Rush's operation chaos. small town pa folks are independent and mischief minded and a lot listen to rush. (there was an uptick of dem registrations b4 primary) the dems still out number reps overall but not as much as may be touted by the DKM. Lots of "hockey moms" out here in the farmland. I would guess it to be a toss up and NOT a sure thing.

Slightly OT: Does anyone wonder if there had been the internet in 1929 whether we'd have seen the same sort of news about banks collapsing?

Good morning, everyone. Here's my latest piece.

Pigman: Throw Them into the Fire They Started

I agree going after PA would be a bold move and seriously disrupt Obama. If we don't have to do anything serious to win Ohio and Florida, then I say go for it. Going after PA forces Obama to spend time and money there and not in OH and FL.

re: #188 EIDE_Interface

Risky strategy, I don't know if I would have the guts to do it like that...

no one here thinks you have *any* guts.....

/HTH!

re: #187 littleoldlady

I like Scranton....last time I was there, their Triple-A baseball team was affiliated with the Phillies. Now they sold their soul to the dark side (NY Yankees). I wound up staying a few nights in a hotel that used to be a humongous railway station- I think the visiting baseball teams stayed there while visiting, too.

More to the point, there's always Steamtown. And aside from the stable of Iron Horses kept at Steamtown, the Reading & Northern recently resurrected on of their steamer locomotives and it gets to stretch its legs on the mainline between Jim Thorpe & Scranton.

re: #199 Badge of Kaffir Pride

Slightly OT: Does anyone wonder if there had been the internet in 1929 whether we'd have seen the same sort of news about banks collapsing?

They didn't have an SEC back in 1929 either.

re: #197 EIDE_Interface

Maybe you should do more research.

Latest Real Clear Politics Map- with new toss ups

Minnesota is now tied according to the latest state poll- MN hasn't gone red since Nixon. Make 0bama fight (read- spend money he can't afford) to keep these states.

re: #197 EIDE_Interface

Lost causes:

Maine, Mass, NY, NJ, CA, Oregon, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Illinois, Iowa.

Blueish states that are possible:
Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington

Red states that are dangerously even:

Missouri, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida

crackhead Mobys: 'you'

/nuff said.

BlueCanuck! :-)

Sharmuta! :-)

re: #198 jcw46

I'm 10-15 miles outside of Philadelphia. When Clinton was running I was leafletting at the polls and could have told you early in the morning that he was going to win. It was the moms with the baby carriages, towing toddlers, coming out to vote.

I haven't seen any lawn signs out yet (either side) which is surprising...

re: #205 Sharmuta

Maybe you should do more research.

Latest Real Clear Politics Map- with new toss ups

Minnesota is now tied according to the latest state poll- MN hasn't gone red since Nixon. Make 0bama fight (read- spend money he can't afford) to keep these states.

Star Tribune 09/10 - 09/12 1106 LV 45 45 Tie
SurveyUSA 09/10 - 09/11 734 LV 49 47 Obama +2
CNN/Time 08/31 - 09/02 742 RV 53 41 Obama +12

How can a CNN poll have Obama at +12, and then 2 other polls so much closer just 9-10 days later?

I'm beginning to think that you can't trust CNN, CBS, NBC or ABC polls period. Rassmunsen and Gallup are the only reliable ones.

re: #209 EIDE_Interface

I'm beginning to think that you can't trust CNN, CBS, NBC or ABC polls period. Rassmunsen and Gallup are the only reliable ones.

Ya think?!

Sweet.... my second ever fruitcup.

re: #203 Fenway_Nation

Fenway! :-)

If you want to see a really fun minor league team, try the Wilmington Blue Rocks.

re: #210 Sharmuta

Ya think?!

I'm very gullible...

(my BA is in philosophy)

/last night you had a Master's degree in other things

re: #211 Badge of Kaffir Pride

Sweet.... my second ever fruitcup.

You didn't even ding it.....

Badge of Kaffir Pride! :-)

Bon appetit!

re: #103 Salamantis

You've never written a short paragraph have you? Seek treatment for that condition, it's day surgery & a breeze!

One more thing about Pennsylvania:

For the longest time Obama had a +7 point lead. He's now at +2.3. If that number holds I believe he's already lost the state.

re: #214 Killian Bundy

/last night you had a Master's degree in other things

Definitly horn tooting....as in his own.

re: #215 Sharmuta

You didn't even ding it.....

My bad: my LGF etiquette is still being learned.

re: #212 littleoldlady

A Red Sox affiliate until two years ago!

re: #175 Killian Bundy

/bring it on, dig it deep

Well, I know why you're asking for the links. You're not seriously intersted in reading them to learn anything; you're merely quote-mining them, just like any Disco Dewde would do, and and posting what you hope will reflect less than complimentarily upon me, because, since I haven't, according to your frequently expressed opinion, shown your particular faith the proper obesiance which you consider is its due whilst defending evolutionary theory from creationist attacks, you wanna discredit me by any means necessary. Because that's the kinda person you are.

re: #218 littleoldlady

One more thing about Pennsylvania:

For the longest time Obama had a +7 point lead. He's now at +2.3. If that number holds I believe he's already lost the state.

/Bradley effect

re: #218 littleoldlady

One more thing about Pennsylvania:

For the longest time Obama had a +7 point lead. He's now at +2.3. If that number holds I believe he's already lost the state.

It's the same, imo, in Minnesota. If the usually tainted Star Tribune poll is showing a tie- it's quite possible McCain is leading.

re: #224 Sharmuta

It's the same, imo, in Minnesota. If the usually tainted Star Tribune poll is showing a tie- it's quite possible McCain is leading.

I'll definitely be looking very closely at Obama's activities this week to see if there's any panic over MN and PA. They might have internal polling that's different.

re: #222 Salamantis

Well, I know why you're asking for the links. You're not seriously intersted in reading them to learn anything; you're merely quote-mining them, just like any Disco Dewde would do, and and posting what you hope will reflect less than complimentarily upon me, because, since I haven't, according to your frequently expressed opinion, shown your particular faith the proper obesiance which you consider is its due whilst defending evolutionary theory from creationist attacks, you wanna discredit me by any means necessary. Because that's the kinda person you are.

/okay, are you done yet?

re: #214 Killian Bundy

/last night you had a Master's degree in other things

People with master's degrees in A often have bachelor's degrees in B. My BA is in philosophy, and my master's is in humanities interdisciplinary. Got a fucking problem with that, sport?

"The first thing we do, is kill all the lawyers."
William Shakespeare

re: #223 Killian Bundy

/Bradley effect

Yeah, and people like me who refuse to answer the phone. ;-)

I heard something funny recently. In the white neighborhoods of Philadelphia where they're seeing some resistance to Obama they've been telling the voters, "He's half white, you know!"

re: #227 Salamantis

People with master's degrees in A often have bachelor's degrees in B. My BA is in philosophy, and my master's is in humanities interdisciplinary. Got a fucking problem with that, sport?

"The first thing we do, is kill all the lawyers."
William Shakespeare

/that's right, let's proceed directly to the meltdown, or should I quote you some more?

re: #229 Killian Bundy

/that's right, let's proceed directly to the meltdown, or should I quote you some more?

I call a spade a spade, and an ass an ass.

re: #218 littleoldlady

One more thing about Pennsylvania:

For the longest time Obama had a +7 point lead. He's now at +2.3. If that number holds I believe he's already lost the state.

I was just flipping through the RCP map. If he's indeed lost PA, that puts McC at 248. Virginia is a traditional red and that's 13 for 261. Colorado or Minny or Michigan seal it. Hell, Ohio's just gravy and furthering the mandate at that point.

re: #230 Salamantis

I call a spade a spade, and an ass an ass.

/yep

re: #229 Killian Bundy

College taught me to say "that's incredible!" instead of "no shit!".

re: #213 EIDE_Interface

I'm very gullible...

duh.

re: #222 Salamantis

Well, I know why you're asking for the links. You're not seriously intersted in reading them to learn anything; you're merely quote-mining them, just like any Disco Dewde would do, and and posting what you hope will reflect less than complimentarily upon me, because, since I haven't, according to your frequently expressed opinion, shown your particular faith the proper obesiance which you consider is its due whilst defending evolutionary theory from creationist attacks, you wanna discredit me by any means necessary. Because that's the kinda person you are.

assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

re: #230 Salamantis

I call a spade a spade, and an ass an ass.

and i call bullshit.

next?

re: #231 Badge of Kaffir Pride

I was just flipping through the RCP map. If he's indeed lost PA, that puts McC at 248. Virginia is a traditional red and that's 13 for 261. Colorado or Minny or Michigan seal it. Hell, Ohio's just gravy and furthering the mandate at that point.

That's a lot of assumptions. At this point McCain has only about 200 "sure" EV. Obama 193. According to Rassmunsen. More then 100 "toss up" EVs.

re: #222 Salamantis

Well, I know why you're asking for the links. You're not seriously intersted in reading them to learn anything; you're merely quote-mining them, just like any Disco Dewde would do, and and posting what you hope will reflect less than complimentarily upon me, because, since I haven't, according to your frequently expressed opinion, shown your particular faith the proper obesiance which you consider is its due whilst defending evolutionary theory from creationist attacks, you wanna discredit me by any means necessary. Because that's the kinda person you are.

Dude, do you always use fifty cent words when nickel words will do?

/you are in dire need of an editor me thinks.

re: #235 redc1c4

assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

It isn't an assumption when there is evidence for it; reread the thread to find it.

re: #238 BlueCanuck

Dude, do you always use fifty cent words when nickel words will do?

/you are in dire need of an editor me thinks.

I'll work on my syllable count for you.

re: #227 Salamantis

People with master's degrees in A often have bachelor's degrees in B. My BA is in philosophy, and my master's is in humanities interdisciplinary. Got a fucking problem with that, sport?

What's the point, are you a community organizer?

/you're going to vote fore Obama, right?

re: #237 EIDE_Interface

That's a lot of assumptions. At this point McCain has only about 200 "sure" EV. Obama 193. According to Rassmunsen. More then 100 "toss up" EVs.

RCP shows McC/MILF 227 and Osama Bin Biden at 207. That includes leaners.

re: #237 EIDE_Interface

That's a lot of assumptions. At this point McCain has only about 200 "sure" EV. Obama 193. According to Rassmunsen. More then 100 "toss up" EVs.

That's pretty rich coming from you, when you've already assumed this election is lost.

re: #243 Sharmuta

That's pretty rich coming from you, when you've already assumed this election is lost.

I never said it was lost since the Palin pick. Now if you asked me on August 28th, I'd be very defeatist.

master's is in humanities interdisciplinary

/gee, let's take a poll, what degree could possibly be more worthless?

re: #239 Salamantis

It isn't an assumption when there is evidence for it; reread the thread to find it.

and yet you said "assume".... i'll let *you* reread for content.

/not my statement, not my burden. %-)

re: #245 Killian Bundy

General studies?

re: #244 EIDE_Interface

I never said it was lost since the Palin pick. Now if you asked me on August 28th, I'd have been very more defeatist.

re: #245 Killian Bundy

/gee, let's take a poll, what degree could possibly be more worthless?

politics?

community organizing?

Back in my waitress days I could always tell when it was a full moon without even looking it up or looking outside.

Same with LGF. ;-)

Good day, ALL!™

/she said, making a quick get-away...

re: #244 EIDE_Interface

I never said it was lost since the Palin pick. Now if you asked me on August 28th, I'd be very defeatist.

Dude- you called Sarah Palin and her family white trash. Don't BS us.

Bye littleoldlady. Have a good day.

Good morning, Lizards.

re: #250 littleoldlady

We love you, {lol}!

re: #251 Sharmuta

Dude- you called Sarah Palin and her family white trash. Don't BS us.

One little indiscretion and everyone goes nuts! Ever since then I've developed a deep connection with the Palins!

re: #253 goddessoftheclassroom

Morning goddess. Enjoy your weekend?

Lindsay Lohan Blasts Palin

Didn't Lindsay Lohan come out and SUPPORT Palin like, two weeks ago?